A game with the Little Britons.

I brought out the Little Britons for a game the other night. We used a set of rules that Howard has started on to play. The working name is Shiny Toy Soldier Rules. The Armies were of the same size being four line infantry units, one skirmisher unit, one cavalry unit and two guns with three gunners each. I'll need to paint up some more gunners for each gun as the rules base firing on the number of gunners. It was your basic meeting engagement. We both forgot to bring a ground cloth so used the table in the Hobby Town and unpainted piece of MDF.

The Blue Army lined up at the start

Red Army center

Red Army right flank

Red Army left flank with the newly painted Greeks.

The Battle started off with a general advance by the Blue Army. The Marines placed in the center. 

Red advanced his left flank and opened fire with both his artillery units. Blue moved up on the his right to counter the advancing Greeks but had his skirmishers pushed back. Opening fire on Red with one gun and the NYS Volunteers forced a morale check on the Greeks and caused them to fall back. 

Meanwhile in the center the Marines charged the woods held by Red's skirmishers. It was a bloody fight but the Hawaians fell back and Blue advanced into the woods where they faced a constant fire from Red's Egyptians.

Over on Blue's left the RCMP charged into the 10th US. After several rounds of melee Blue's cavalry was routed off the board. A firefight raged on between the Canadians and Spanish of Red and the Belgians and Argentines of Blue with Blue getting the worst of it.

Red's cavalry then wheeled to the left chasing off the crew of the second Blue gun and then charged the NYS Volunteers on Blue's right causing them to fall back. The action was heavy all around and our cameraman was headed to the rear just ahead of the troops on Blue's left flank. 

With a stand off on Reds left flank and nothing left on the right to hold Red's advance  Blue conceded the field.

2015 AAR and the New Plan

It being January I feel a need to review the last year and set plans for the new one, late as usual.

2015 was fairly successful on the gaming front we managed to get in 2-3 games a month at the local Hobby Town mostly Frostgrave but also some Little Britons using either OHW or With MacDuff to the Frontier as well as play testing Flint and Feather an upcoming set from Howard Whitehouse

Painting wise although happy with my output I bought way more than I should have. The stats, painted 146 bought 324 for a minus 178 on the year. The big purchases were some John Jenkins Warring States and the Watchful Studio Warring States Kickstarter to be used for a pair of Pulse of Battle armies.These will keep me busy for the rest of the year and hopefully nothing new comes along to temp me. All in in all a good year for the hobby.

Now on to the plans for 2016. The year has seen Three games so far, Sharpe's Practice AWI, Flint&Feather and Frostgrave, thirty eight miniatures have been painted with a good start on a dozen more.

An order has been placed for the final two cavalry units needed to finish the Little Briton project as planned. I am considering adding more to this project as I want some French, German and West Indian troops.

I'm starting to catalogue my collection and hope to get through a least four periods by the end of the year. The first is the AWI 28mm and then ACW 15mm. The Little Britons are mostly done but I switched formats so may move these over.

The plans for gaming will depend on availability of opponents but the one group I'm in is showing interest in Sharpe's Practice and Carnage & Glory for the AWI and perhaps En Guarde when it comes out. Locally word is that others are interested in Frostgrave so a campaign with that may be in the future. Dragon Rampant has been ordered so I'll be looking to play some of that using my Games Workshop LOTR figures. Once again Huzzah is on the calendar. Last year was a lot of fun. I played in the Hawks "Not Quite Seven Years War" game using modified Charge rules and fantastic 40mm figures.

So there's the layout for the next year. I'm shooting for twelve blog posts for this year with them being a recap of each months activity. It will most likely be weighted towards the beginning and end of the year though as the warmer months tend towards outdoor fun.

Thanks for reading.

Sidetracked

Aside from the game with McDuff not much has been going on with the Little Britons Project however there has been some gaming.

First up has been some games of Frostgrave. These games have been loads of fun. I used my LOTR figures to make my band but have since started to paint some figures ti use just for this game.

The other track has been going on since last April. A group I'm in as been playing a SYW game for a while we've met three times and are now on the sixth turn. It's a big battle and has been lot's of fun too bad that work vacations and other things have slowed it up. Next week should see the final rounds of play. It's a beautiful table with well painted 15 mm figures. We started with Konig Krieg but switched to Carnage and Glory for the last four turns. Photos in no particular order.

Thanks for reading next week should see another outing of the Little Britons and in January an order for the final two cavalry squadrons.

Little Britons with McDuff

Well it hasn't been a good year for the blogging part of the hobby but there's been pleanty of gaming. Last week was a game using Ross Macfarlane's WITH MACDUFF TO THE FRONTIER.

A simple set of rules with a great feel for the type of game these figures call for. My troops didn't fair well as can be seen in the photos but it was a fun game. I need to paint up a few more units to give the games a little more tactical challenge.

One Hour Wargames outing.

I got together with Howard for a game this week. We decided to play One Hours Wargames as a good way to use my Little Britons figures. I've enough figures to have two equal forces of 3 Infantry, 1 Skirmish, 1 Artillery and, 1 Cavalry. We used the Rifle and Saber rules. Howard was Red and I played Blue.

First we played Scenario 1 Pitched Battle. In the center Howard defended the hill as I moved up hoping to be just out of range so I would get the first volley. Unfortunately I miss judged it and Howard got the first round. On the flank my skirmish unit battled with his Cavalry. Eventually my center cracked and his Cavalry defeated my skirmishers. I brought up my reserves but it was too late and I was beaten back and defeated.

Here's a few photos of the game I would have taken more but we were having too much fun.

Next we played Scenario 4 Take the High Ground. There was a little more maneuvering in this game as we both tried to gain advantage in the end though Red proved stronger and held on to the high ground.

Both games lasted about an fifty minutes . Simple as the rules are they do offer decision points that make for a challenging and enjoyable game.

Little Britons Solo outing part 2

So the battle continues

 Red reenforces the hill

 Blue moves around the flank as his skirmish unit in the woods is eliminated

 The assault on the hill continues with one more blue unit being destroyed.

 The flank attack succeeds in eliminating the remaining defenders making it a solid victory for Blue

This was a fun solo game. The rules are simple but give a good result. It took about an hour to play. This week should see an outing against a live opponent.

Here's a photo in B&W for that true old school feel.

Little Britons on a Solo outing.

Now I have enough figures to play a game with my Little Britons. I decided to try out Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames rules. I picked Scenario #8 to try. Here's the 2 forces.

Army Red

Army Blue

Red has two units on the table at the start of the game and moves first. Blue has half his force enter on the road on turn one. Red has two more units come on during turn three.

 Red has moved his skirmishers into the woods while Blue moves his cavalry north to block the road.and his infantry yo assault the hill.

 The second half of Blues force comes on on turn four.

 The cavalry of both forces fight on the eastern edge of the woods. Blues skirmishers have pushed Reds out of the woods.

 The remainder of Reds force enters from the west. As Blues force sets up to attack the hill. Blues cavalry is supported by infantry.

 Turn nine ends with each side losing a unit. Reds Skirmishers and Blues cavalry.

 to be continued....